Saturday, May 22, 2010

Right now I'm enjoying one of my favorite parts of the week: Saturday mornings. Everything is quite and only the true early risers of the world are awake - a decidedly cheery and optimistic group of people. I'm sure I've inherited this gene through the male line in my family. My dad and my dad's dad all seem to enjoy this time of the day as much as I do and I have memories going way back of me and my grandpa eating Eggo waffles with dark Karo syrup before anyone else gets up or me watching Saturday morning cartoons and eating Raisin Bran while my dad reads the paper. So while I wait for my steel cut oats to finish cooking (soon to be mixed with Vietnamese cinnamon and blackberries) I thought I'd do some blog updating.

Yesterday I got to make a feast for some friends who were coming over, one of them being my friend Emily who's also been going vegan. Needless to say, I was excited. On the menu? Chips and my homemade salsa as an appetizer then fiesta corn salad with edamame (which in hindsight needed more dressing), curried wild rice, green apple slaw and lots of grilled veggies. Dessert was peanut butter chocolate banana pops which I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture of. They are a MESS to make but so worth it!

We spent the rest of the night around my friend Abby's fire pit laying down the framework of our Italy 2011 trip, a mere 1 year away! Right now the plan is to start in NE Italy (Venice) and work our way down in a big, elongated "C" going through Tuscany, Rome, Pompeii, Pisa, Naples and ending up in Sicily with Emily and I potentially starting the trip a little earlier in Switzerland.

I've listed the things I'm most excited for in descending order:

The food in general

Wandering around Rome with no map and no agenda

Cafe con leche and a croissant for breakfast...every morning

Seeing the Alps again

Getting to speak the little Italian I know, the word due (two) in particular.

*Sigh* The only plus to it being a year away is that it gives me another 52 weeks to save up money to go. But for today I'm going to spend my love on CoMo. I'm done with my oatmeal and now I'm off to the farmer's market, then a few hours of landscaping at church and after that the possibilities are wide open.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The past week has been whirl-wind. Up to Michigan and back with a layover in St. Louis, buffered by one or two 13 hour work days. Needless to say I've barely been sleeping, let alone blogging. However, in the interim I'm happy to announce that I have officially veganized!! Woohoo!

Prior to my Michigan departure (hi MI crew! Miss you!) I finished off the last of my non-vegan food stuffs knowing that when I entered my house again it would be as a veg-only lady. And although the trip up there wasn't for the best of reasons, being the optimist that I am there were two pluses. First, it was so nice to spend a solid three days with some cousins I don't get to see nearly often enough. And second, it was my final test in the veganization process - travel. I may not be a pro at navigating the vegan lifestyle yet but over the last month I've definitely learned how to maneuver all the potential hazard situations: eating out, catered events and travel.

I've made or tasted LOTS of deliciouso foods over the past week which I'd love to tell you all about, however I'm exhausted (note sleep-deprived comment made above). I just hated that it had been so long since I updated this thing. So instead I leave you with this image. It's me holding Fritz's frozen custard (NOT to be confused with ice cream!). I wasn't actually craving Fritz's at the time, but I was driving back home knowing that once I got there, there was no turning back. Fritz's just seemed like the perfect send off. It's a summer tradition of mine dating all the way back to my booster seat years. I have memories of getting maraschino cherry juice in such a mess everywhere my parents had to pull the booster seat out of the car and hose it down. So this quick roadside stop was more of an homage to the memories than a last ditch dairy binge.

And the flavor? This use to be a 10 minute ordeal, deciding my Fritz's concrete flavor. Sunday it was easy - oreo cookie concrete. The Kristy classic. A tried and true flavor that never fails me. Yum.

So cheers to you steak and salmon, ice cream and omelets, brie and barbeque. Until we meat again...

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Yesterday while perusing the ingredients section of my aforementioned 2nd favorite cereal I came across some sad news. Frosted Mini Wheats cereal has gelatin in it. Saaaaadd! Unfortunately gelatin is an animal product and therefore non-vegan. Why FMW needs gelatin in it, I have no clue so I'm hoping there's an alternative source of frosted, wheat-y goodness out there. In the meantime I'm no longer blogging about any prepackaged/boxed/manufactured food products as I seem to be a jinx.